The Democratic National Convention returned last night for its second evening at Chicago’s United Center. Performing during the event were Chicago native Common, legendary soul singer Patti LaBelle, and Atlanta crunk favorite Lil Jon. Watch the musicians’ respective performances below.
Common, a longtime Democratic activist who performed at the party’s convention in 2020, did his new song “Fortunate.” He switched up some of the song’s lyrics to shout out the Americans’ performance at the Olympics and the Democrats’ nominee for president: “Fortunate, yo, we got the gold in Paris/We fortunate, y’all, for Kamala Harris!”
LaBelle came out for an in memoriam segment. She sang “You Are My Friend,” a ballad from her self-titled debut solo album.
Lil Jon appeared during the roll-call vote that acknowledged Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, as the Democratic party’s official nominees, and he rapped some of “Turn Down for What,” before leading the crowd in a chant of, “We’re not going back!” He also shouted, “V.P. Harris, Governor Walz!” over the beat for “Get Low.”
The entire roll-call procedure—which was largely symbolic, as Harris was made the party’s nominee during a virtual vote—was a musical affair helmed by DJ Cassidy. He led proceedings and played thematic songs as delegates from each state pledged their support for Harris and Walz. (For example, New Jersey’s selection was, unsurprisingly, a Bruce Springsteen song, “Born in the U.S.A.”) The whole thing took over an hour, and you can watch footage below and head to The New York Times to see the full list of songs.
The 2024 Democratic National Convention began on Monday, August 19. The first night of the convention featured Jason Isbell playing “Something More Than Free.”